Eclipse 2018 in pictures: Best photos of the Blood Moon

The length of the eclipse is determined by the alignment of the sun, Earth and the moon, as well as the distance between the moon and our planet.

At the same time, Mars is travelling closer to Earth than it has done since 2003, so some observers may see what looks like an orange-red star - and is in fact the red planet.

Incredibly, the Moon was entirely in Earth's shadow (totality), turning it a dark blood red, for a full 1 hour and 43 minutes. The Full Eclipse began at 3.30am where the shadow of the sun started to change the colour of the moon red and was visible to the naked eye.

The eclipse will not be visible from North America or most of the Pacific. - AFP A man looks through a telescope at a "blood moon" eclipse in Oloika town in Magadi, Kenya.

Dr Andrew Jacob, curator at Sydney Observatory, described the blood moon eclipse as "very nice", especially since an eclipse earlier in the year had been clouded out.

"There is no reason to believe that blood moons foretell doom", said Massey.

After weeks of uninterrupted sunshine and cloudless skies, thunderstorms swept across swathes of the United Kingdom on Friday, veiling what was said to be the longest celestial event in the 21st century.

Earlier, on Friday night, about 200 people from the ASV gathered at Braeside Park and watched Mars through 20 telescopes as it sat close to the moon. Basically, this particular blood moon is not the one for you if you're an American who will be in America on Friday. "For those alive today, it's a unique event", said Sven Melchert, head of a local society of astronomy enthusiasts in Heppenheim, western Germany, cited by the DPA news agency.

Our constant companion will also be at the farthest point on its orbit from Earth, making its movement across the sky slower from our perspective, thus spending longer in the dark.

"If that were true, we'd be in big trouble given the gravitational pulls on Earth, Mars, and our moon!" the NASA website states.